Toward the next generation of NK cell-based adoptive cancer immunotherapy

The adoptive transfer of interleukin (IL)-2-expanded natural killer (NK) cells has provided unsatisfactory clinical benefits to patients affected by solid tumors. Our study demonstrates that the activation of NK cells with IL-12/IL-15/IL-18 prior to transfer into tumor-bearing mice is critical for obtaining high recovery rates, effector functions in vivo and tumor regression.